EU customs reform 2028: What is important now

16 February 2026 by TRANSCO Team

European customs authorities are under enormous pressure. Trade volumes, particularly in the electronic sector, have grown rapidly in recent years. At the same time, the number of EU standards that must be checked at the borders is constantly increasing. In the area of online purchases alone, one billion shipments are imported into the EU every year. Existing customs procedures are reaching their limits. The EU is responding with the biggest customs reform in decades.

The core problem with the current system lies in a structural weakness: goods with a value of less than €150 are currently exempt from customs duties. What was originally intended as a bureaucratic simplification for small shipments is now being systematically abused: up to 65 per cent of such parcels are declared with an undervalued value in order to artificially fall below the exemption limit.

At the heart of the reform is a central EU customs data platform—a unified digital system that bundles all relevant information about goods, shipments, and supply chains in real time. For the first time, all customs authorities in all EU member states will have joint access to this data.

The key point is that the platform uses artificial intelligence to analyze supply chain data even before the goods are shipped to the EU. Risks are thus identified at an early stage, before they become a problem at the border. Customs authorities can thus focus their resources on suspicious shipments instead of checking every package without cause.

What is new is not the control – what is new is the timing: risks are identified before shipment, not just at the border.

Find out how we are already using artificial intelligence in customs here.

Until now, there has been no overarching customs authority in the EU. Each member state operates its own customs authority, according to its own processes, with its own IT and risk management systems. The result: information is rarely shared, risks are dealt with twice or fall between the cracks of different jurisdictions.

The reform will change this fundamentally. The new EU customs authority will be the first supranational coordination body that does not replace national authorities but provides them with a common basis. In concrete terms, this means:

Die Reform schafft Vorteile auf mehreren Ebenen: Für Unternehmen bedeutet sie kurzfristig Anpassungsaufwand, mittelfristig aber erhebliche Einsparungen, schätzungsweise 2,7 Milliarden Euro pro Jahr allein durch schnellere Abläufe und weniger bürokratische Hürden. Für Zollbehörden ermöglicht die zentrale Plattform echtes EU-weites Risikomanagement und senkt gleichzeitig IT-Kosten um bis zu zwei Milliarden Euro jährlich. Für Bürgerinnen und Bürger bedeutet die Reform mehr Schutz vor unsicheren Produkten aus Drittländern und mehr Transparenz beim Online-Einkauf keine versteckten Gebühren mehr, wenn ein Paket ankommt.

Für Unternehmen und Online-Händler hat die Reform besonders weitreichende Konsequenzen. Im zweiten Teil dieser Serie lesen Sie, was konkret auf E-Commerce-Unternehmen zukommt und was jetzt zu tun ist.